Find out how popular the last name Storm is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Storm.

Storm, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Storm surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Storm in America

Storm is the 3596th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Storm surname appeared 9,895 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 3 people would have the surname Storm.

We can also compare 2010 data for Storm to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Storm

The surname Storm originated in the Netherlands and Belgium in the late medieval period. It is derived from the Middle Dutch word 'storm', meaning 'storm' or 'tempest'. This name likely referred to a person's fierce or turbulent temperament or perhaps they lived in a particularly windy or storm-prone area.

Some of the earliest recorded instances of the Storm surname can be found in Dutch municipal records from the 15th and 16th centuries. These include references to individuals such as Adriaen Storm, a merchant in Amsterdam in 1560, and Jan Storm, a baker in Leiden in 1589.

In England, the Storm surname first appeared in Norfolk in the late 16th century, possibly brought over by Dutch or Flemish immigrants. One of the earliest recorded English bearers of the name was Thomas Storm, who was listed in the parish registers of Worstead, Norfolk in 1592.

The Storm name has also been present in Germany since at least the 17th century, with alternative spellings such as Sturm and Stürmer. Notable German bearers include the philosopher Johann Christoph Sturm (1635-1703) and the artist Theodor Storm (1817-1888), a renowned writer of the German Realist school.

In Scotland, the Storm surname is believed to have originated as a topographic name for someone living near a stormy or tempestuous area. One of the earliest recorded Scottish bearers was John Storm, who was born in Dundee in 1686.

Other notable historical figures with the Storm surname include the Dutch Golden Age painter Hendrick Jacobsz Storm (c. 1580-1652), the English banker and philanthropist Sir John Willam Storm (1838-1920), and the Norwegian explorer and writer Carl Storm (1867-1925).

While not an exhaustive list, these examples illustrate the widespread distribution and long history of the Storm surname across various European countries and its enduring presence over several centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Storm

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Storm.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Storm was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Storm has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Storm was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Storm, please contact us.

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